HANOI ,Vietnam, the world's third-largest rice exporter, has set a floor price for state-run food companies to buy the grain from farmers to prevent lower export earnings, an official said on Monday."Paddy prices will not be allowed to fall below 1,500 dong (9.7 cents) per kg," said an official at the state-affiliated Vietnam Food Association.
Local prices of paddy from the summer-autumn crop, whose harvest is now peaking in the key rice-growing region Mekong Delta, softened this week to 1,550 dong (10 cents) per kg, from 1,600-1,650 dong (10.3-10.7 cents) last month.
Foreign buyers had said they would wait for further price drops before sealing new deals, prompting the government to set a floor price.
Vietnam, which trails Thailand and India in the league of world's biggest rice exporters, earned $457 million from rice exports in the first half, up 36.4 percent over the same period last year.
The government has ordered several large state trading firms to procure 300,000 tonnes of paddy if prices hit the 1,500 dong level, state media reported.
The Trade Ministry has forecast Vietnam's second-half rice exports at 1.6 million tonnes, slightly lower than 1.65 million tonnes in the year-earlier period.
However, the forecast indicates Vietnam's full-year rice exports would total nearly four million tonnes, higher than the targeted exports of 3.5 million tonnes.
Vietnam exported 3.24 million tonnes of rice in 2002.
rice export forecast Vietnam, the world's third-largest rice exporter, forecast second-half exports at 1.6 million tonnes, slightly lower than 1.65 million tonnes in the year-earlier period.
However, the forecast indicates Vietnam's full-year rice exports would total nearly four million tonnes, higher than targeted exports of 3.5 million tonnes and above 2002 exports of 3.24 million tonnes.
"Export earnings would be higher as prices and the world's import demand are on the rise while supplies from Thailand and India are falling," a report, published by the Trade Ministry said.
Ministry officials were not immediately available for comment.
The government has previously reported first-half exports of 2.39 million tonnes.
Vietnam trails Thailand and India in the league of the world's biggest rice exporters.
The ministry said it hoped sales to Africa this year would reach 675,000 tonnes, after rice shipments to the continent in the first half jumped 145 percent to 375,000 tonnes from a year earlier.